The Miner.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 2, 2 August 1926, Page 64 (Supplement)

The Miner.

In the "News Sheet, ' 'the organ, of the Student Christian,-, ■m New Zealand, Mr; A.; W> Eage.writes a most interesting article : on. Ms experiences, ;in . the , ininiiig-distjict: gf ; the,' West Goas't. After Vdesqribiiig how the,; owners made a certain improvement only after a.:drastic threat by the men, h,e says:— The; case is typical of the , employers ' policy. No concession or improvement- .|s ; , granted, no ■ provision for greslter saifjetyf mad©, except by compulsion through action, or threat of action by the men. Even^ithcn it -is usually a grudging minimum that is given. It- 'ia little wonder that there is all the tinie a .feeling on the part of the miners of injustice done them, and a bitter hostility towards their employers, rising to the surface at every grievance or fancied grievance/ There is no trace of a sense of loyalty towards the men they are working for, iior of obligation to give their best effort. ■ On both sides the spirit is "give the least and get: the. most; ". Is it surprising that the world to-day ia cursed with industrial conflicts and menaced by the shadow of violent revolutions? Every day m the mine makes me more : convinced of two things: Fiirst, pur present system of society, based on competition and the incentive of individual gain, is fundamentally unchristian, and therefore unsound. No/ material increase of human happiness is possible till that system is replaced by one founded on cooperation and the incentive of service. Second, the road to a Christian ordering of society is blocked by the wida chasm that separates employers and employed. Until these classes realise their;, fundamental sameness and kinship, until they work for, instead of against, each other, the desired change cannot come. And the way to bring about improved relations, and eventually abolish ;the distinction, between the two classes, is education. The hope of the world lies m out public schools— not as they are at present, but as they could "be. Equalise the opportunities for education; give every child a chance of full development of his or her faculties; make our schools and colleges miniature copies, not of the world that s is, : but of the "world that might be, wherein success is judged not by wealth, biit'by service; and there will be no need of wars and strikes and slums. Then will Christianity be not merely a name'j 1 but a realised fact. ■